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Previously known as The Dark Lands, Stara Ziema cannot be so easily described. It is the term for the land mass of North and South America, thought of as one single continent stretching from pole to pole.

Naturally, Stara Ziema is not any finite political region. Instead, the vast continent has been fought over by many indigenous civilizations for millenia.

With the advent of magicke, technology and a lack of interruption by European conquest, the indigenous people of the Americas have formed vast kingdoms and empires, some stretching across entire continents, and now have their own problems to deal with, Westerners or not.

The Nations of Stara Ziema

The Rek'phana Empire

Many many millenia ago, the constantly-battling thousands of nations of North America fell under the yoke of one prolific leader. The chief of a small, hated tribe of panthers called the Zanat'ka, he led the infamous tribe of butchers and conquerors to war once more. Legends say he used his enemy's dead warriors against their living ones, and even crushed his foes under falling pieces of black sky. His name was Panak'si, and many believe that to challenge the Zanat'ka was to risk calling the terrible warrior back from the other side. From this fearful loyalty was born the Rek'phana Empire, an umbrella that casts its shadow all across North America's peoples, and covets the lands beyond.

Today, the Rek'phana or "Rephan" Empire as it is known to Elysians, is a loose but loyal collection of tribes, still held under the yoke of the same panther tribe's descendants. Above them all rules Moloch, direct descendant of the ancient Panak'si. His rule is passive, his personality enigmatic, but his dominance is utterly unchallenged. See Rephan for more

Zabel

A budding empire in the basket of meso-america. Theocratic AND technocratic, they possess amazing inventiveness and religious zeal, and defend their borders with an almost unheard of ferociousness. Known for their golems, obelisks, and Sun Worship.

Not an empire, but a term for the many lizard and reptilian people of the Caribbean Islands (comprising Cuba, Jamaica, Dominica, Haiti, etc) They are thought to have fled there, discriminated against by the Rephan Empire over a thousand years ago. Their culture is technologically moderate, but they possess ancestral knowledge of their islands that grant a significant boon to defensive tactics. The islands were used as a staging point for the recent Arrym Invasion, allowing Arrym ships to slip quickly to Elysia and insert a large force in short order.

The Arrym Free State

The Arrym, fed up with scratching out a living on their ancestral lands in Iraq, took up residence in the peninsula that we modern humans know as Florida. They are the only people from the Eastern Hemisphere to have successfully colonized part of the generally unchallenged Rephan Empire. Rumour has it this was made possible by a dialogue between the Arrym leadership and some Yurq'ua'an lizard clans. Their success did not last long, as Moloch mobilized to oust the squatters.

The Arrym Free State has now passed mostly to Yurq'ua'an interests in the South, with the North returning to Rephan control. This ensures that you may still see reptilian skin in Ft Lauderdale.

Others

Many indigenous peoples of Stara Ziema are unhappy under any imperial yoke, and have rejected the Rephans and Zabel alike. Persecuted and necessarily secretive, they seek other allegiances.

It is thought the Yanaka people of Elysia may have come from Stara Ziema, but this is not a view shared by even the majority of the Yanaka themselves.